1) Noah's Ark Water Table After telling the story of Noah's Ark, set up a water table, add a toy boat (the ark) and lots of toy animals so the children can reenact the miraculous event.  I strung crystal prisms across the windows to create a rainbow, hoping for sunshine to appear.  The children had lots of fun - every plastic animal enjoyed the ride on the ark, from the dinosaurs to the farm animals. 2) Items to use in water tables: a: Noodles, rice, sand, shredded paper, beans.  Of course not all at once  b: I have had alot of experience seeing joy come from cooked spaghetti, noodles, macaroni, etc.  It is first cooked and then dyed with different food colourings.  I have also done shaving cream, mashed potatoes, and a collection of rocks that I painted.  c: How about peanuts in the shell, plastic eggs, cotton balls, tissue paper rolls beanbags, bells, styrofoam balls. d: noodles, birdseed, cornstarch, dried beans, cornmeal, dry cereal e: You can put just about anything.  What about large legos, scaps of paper to tear, play doh, cars and trucks, ice cubes and mittens, magnets and things that stick and don't stick, small blocks and rug pieces. f: corn meal, uncooked rice, sand, cracked wheat, bird seed, snow, warm water (with soap, tearless shampoo, washclothes, waterproof baby dolls) for giving dolls a bath.  Also try adding food coloring and/or bath bubbles to water. g: I saw this at an NAEYC conference...they had crushed walnut shells in a water table. Oh they felt so good...no wonder the kids loved them!! 3) Other tips for water tables: a: Here's a neat idea I heard from another list.  They took an old water table, had it fitted with a new plexiglass cover and inserted one of those small under-the-kitchen counter lights.  Viola! Instant light table!  Adds another dimension to the children's experiences. b: I found new ways to allow the mess without the fuss.  I have a very slick tile floor under my water table and any spills can be disasterous.  I have added a small plastic swimming pool under the table to contain the water spills, etc. which keeps the materials under control.  (I make the kids themselves clean up whatever they spill when they are finished playing.  A small broom/dustpan and extra towels are always beside the pool.) I'm glad I actually gave in to the water table concept - the kids love it and gain so much from the sensory experiences.  It can calm an angry child, soothe a sad spirit or inspire great thoughts.  Give it a try and never say never!! c: I have a mesh bag that keeps my water table supplies intact and hanging up to dry. It contains plastic measuring cups and measuring spoons, nesting cups, various sized turkey basters, clear tubes for cyphening, and a few other plastic oddities. I use one of the plastic sand and water tables. I solely use it for water play tho. In the rainy season-or winter - I bring it in and stock with scrap paper for free art play. I throw in antibacterial dish soap to ward off the spread of *germies* a tad. The bubbles make it more enticing~! 4) Prepare colored ice cubes using food coloring. Drop a few in the water table. Children can watch the cubes melt. Extend this activity by combining colors: blue and yellow for green; red and yellow for orange; blue and red for purple. I've also started the day with colored water and added the second color so the children can see the change. Alan Baker's book White Rabbit's Color Book is a wonderful way to add literacy to this activity. Read before or after their experience with the ice cubes. Should you be lucky enough to have snow to put in the table, add ice colored ice cubes to the snow so that children can compare melting time. COOL FUN!!! 5) Add bubble wrap, old cars, and a little bit of water to your sensory table. The children drive their cars over the bubble wrap to make popping noise. The little bit of water just adds extra sensory fun! 6) This is a fun sand table activity to enhance a unit on dinosaurs: Clean chicken bones well, then soak for several hours in a household bleach solution (I used 3/4 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of water and soaked the bones overnight). After the bones have dried, hide them in the sand table. The children then pretend to be palentologists and really love finding the miniature "dinosaur" bones. As a follow up, they can arrange them on a piece of paper to form imaginary dinosaur skeletons. 7) We call our sand and water table the "Sensory Table". We've included many things other than sand and water. A few items include packing peanuts, bird seed, snow, ice cubes, glitter in water, and glitter with flour. The children's favorites so far have been scooping and smearing pumpkin "guts" and washing the baby dolls with sponges, soap, and water! 8) This is a combination Sand table and Art Project. Children dig a hole in wet sand that is in the sand table.....They then add small shells and rocks to the walls of the hole....... The teacher then pours plaster of paris in the holes and let harden....... When it is taken out......It is a permanant sand "castle." The kids think this is "awesome" 9) If you are doing a cowboy, Wild West, Texas or California unit try this in your sand: Have your students pan for gold. Spray paint several small rocks gold and bury them throughout the sand. Using sifters, the children sift through the sand to find the gold nuggets. 10) DEFINE SINK & FLOAT At circle time we answer the questions what does it mean for something to Float in Water....to Sink in Water. SCIENTIFIC PREDICTIONS On the Bulletin Board I hang a Chart which we also discuss at Circle Time. The first column lists 14 different items. The second column reads: "What we THINK it will do!" The third column reads: "What it DID do!" During circle we examine each item, notice how it's written name looks (we might talk about beginning letters, double letters, how many letters...whatever interests your particular group of children). Then we PREDICT what we "THINK" that item will do in water....SINK or FLOAT? I write an arrow pointing upwards for FLOAT and an arrow pointing downwards for SINK on the Chart. TESTING OUR PREDICTIONS The project for the day is to "test" our predictions. We take turns during Free Play. On the table I have a basin of water and two pails. On one pail I tape a sign with a picture of something floating on water with the word FLOAT, and an arrow pointing upwards on it. On the second pail I have a picture with something Sinking in Water, the word SINK and an arrow pointing downward. I lay the 14 items out on the table. One at a time the children come to the table and place the items one by one into the water. They make observations as to whether the item Sinks or Floats. They then put the item into the correct Pail -- labelled Sink or Float. When they are done they help me reset the table and call the next child. CHECKING OUR PREDICTIONS At our second circle we check our predictions with what REALLY DID happen. We count up how many predictions were correct and how many were wrong. We talk about how it is OK to make a Scientific Guess and then test it to see if it is right or not. I try to emphasize that it is OK to experiment, explore, guess and take risks in our classroom....after all that is how we best learn....by doing it ourselves! Below is a list of the 14 items we test. I try to include different properties so we can talk about WHY something sinks or floats. For example we test two dinosaurs--one sinks/one floats. Why? One is made of plastic/one of rubber. Why does the SMALL penny sink and the LARGE empty soda bottle float? Before the end of our discussion the children figure out for themselves that it is the WEIGHT (how heavy or light an item is) that determines wether it will SINK or FLOAT. FLOATERS SINKERS Empty Soda Bottle Penny Tin Pie Plate Marble Hollow Rubber Ball Golf Ball Plastic Bottle Cap Tornado Tube Plastic Dinosaur Rubber Dinosaur Comb Full Tin Can Pine Cone (This is a fun one. At circle the pine cone is dry and therefore wide open. As it becomes wet and water- logged it closes up. It's fun to see which child is observant enough to notice this. That can then lead you into a discussion of WHY pinecones close up when it is wet outside and WHY they open and what happens on dry days. Paper Towel This is my "tricky" one. Most children will plop the paper towel in, announce it floats and put it in the Float pail. It's fun to see if you have a patient, careful, observant child that will leave the paper towel in the water. As it slowly absorbs the water -- the paper towel will sink. If no one takes the time I accept their "Float" answer and I put the paper towel in water again on another day. We observe what happens during play time. This of course can lead you into "absorption" experiments. BOOK Today we read "Mr. Gumpy's Outing" by John Burningham Mr. Gumpy has a boat which floats on the river. He decides to go for a ride and allows his animal friends to climb aboard one by one. Of course the children guess that the boat will tip and sink before the end!